Day 158: DS9, It's Only a Paper Moon

Show: Star Trek; Deep Space Nine

Episode Particulars: S7EP10, “It’s Only a Paper Moon”

 Summary: After losing his leg in “The Siege of AR-558”, Nog has finally returned to DS9, albeit on medical leave. But while everyone’s glad to see him, Nog’s withdrawn into himself, and doesn’t want to spend time with anyone. The only thing that seems to get any positive response from him is a recording of Vic Fontaine singing “I’ll be Seeing You”. Eventually, he goes to the holosuite to hear Vic in person, and then makes the bold decision to spend his leave in the 60’s program. The rest of the crew has their doubts, but Ezri thinks it may be good for him. What nobody realizes until it starts happening is that it’s good for Vic as well.

Standalone Thoughts: Despite the fact that this episode mostly takes place in the holosuite and that Vic Fontaine is a very lighthearted character, this isn’t exactly a fun episode. Of course, “not fun” doesn’t equal “bad”, it just means that this could be a hard episode to watch if you’re not in the right mood or perhaps relate to the situation a little too much. For my part, I think it’s incredibly well-handled, and does a lot for both Vic and Nog. In Vic’s case, he gets to do more than just sing and dispense some platitudes; if you watch this episode and still don’t like him, then nothing’s going to change your mind about him. And as for Nog…

As I said in “The Siege of AR-558”, this is where we really see just how far Nog has come. His first appearance was as a petty thief in “Emissary”, and then he became a friend to Jake and followed the Ferengi tradition of being comic relief. If you told someone in those early years that he would become a Starfleet officer, much less lose a leg and suffer from PTSD because of it, they’d probably call you a liar. Yet that’s exactly what happened, but the change was so gradual that the fact that we’ve reached this point doesn’t come as much of a surprise if you’ve been following along. It’s also why I say he has the best character arc. Garak, as much as I love him, basically remains the same enigmatic character he’s always been. Rom gets taken more seriously as an engineer, but he’s still mostly considered an idiot/comic relief. Even most of the main characters don’t change all that much, just let down their guard a little (Odo, Kira) or toughen up a bit (Worf following more Klingon traditions, Bashir tempering his eagerness). Nog, on the other hand, became an entirely different person, and I deeply respect both the writers and Aron Eisenberg for being willing to explore it.

I also admire them for not just shrugging off Nog’s injury and having everything immediately return to normal, like so many other incidents. By doing an episode like this, not only does it draw parallels to a real-life problem, but it subtly raises the stakes. It tells us the characters we love aren’t necessarily going to get out of this unscathed. It may not be quite as effective on a rewatch, but I’d bet this episode is part of why people might be nervous about the fates of some of their favorites during the push to the finale. Even if it’s only on a subconscious level.

In short, this is an effective episode all around. It’s sad, sweet, isn’t overly preachy, and handles the subject matter well. About the only complaint I have is that the writers fix Nog’s problems a little too quickly at the end, but at least they make an effort to imply it’s not that easy, especially in real life. Otherwise, while it can hurt to watch, it hurts in the best possible way. Which is odd, but high, praise.

How it Relates to the Whole: On the one hand, nothing directly comes from this episode. As far as I remember, nothing it in is directly referenced again, even the changes to Vic’s program. On the other hand, it may allow for more frequent appearances by Vic, so it does have an impact in a small way. And as I explained, this is the height of Nog’s character arc, even though we’ll still be seeing him around throughout the season. So even if this isn’t an extremely important episode, you can’t deny that it’s a relevant one.

Other: *I like the fact that Bashir playing Vic’s music in “The Siege of AR-558” is suddenly made important in this episode. When it happened at the time, it felt either like the script was riffing off a scene from the movie or was written in as a whimsical but not-entirely thought out touch (sure, it might help the crew morale, but starting it unexpectedly could have made someone start firing blindly). But while that point still stands, it stops feeling so pointless when we see the impact it had on Nog. I don’t know if the writers had planned for this at the time or just decided to do something with it after the fact, but I applaud them for pulling the threads together the way they did.

*On the other hand, I’m a little sad that O’Brien’s experiences in “Hard Time” never came up, because my mind kept going back to that episode while I watched this one. There were enough similarities that even if O’Brien never talked to Nog directly, having him at a staff meeting saying “I know what the kid’s going through, and I think we should do x.” would have been great continuity, both in terms of plot and theme. But you can’t have everything, I guess.

Best Line/Exchange: I zoomed in on this one almost as soon as I heard it, because while it may be familiar, that doesn’t make it any less impactful. That being said, I’m warning for faint SPOILERS;

Nog (half-crying while he speaks): When the war began…I wasn’t happy or anything, but I was eager. I wanted to test myself. I wanted to prove I had what it took to be a soldier. And I saw a lot of combat. I saw a lot of people get hurt. I saw a lot of people die. But I didn’t think anything was going to happen to me. And then suddenly, Dr. Bashir is telling me he has to cut my leg off. I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe it. If I can get shot, if I can lose my leg…anything can happen to me, Vic! I could die tomorrow! I don’t know if I’m ready to face that. If I stay here, at least I know what the future is going to be like.

Vic: You stay here, you’re gonna die. Not all at once, but little by little. Eventually you’d become as hollow as I am.

Nog: You don’t seem hollow to me.

Vic: Compared to you, I’m hollow as a snare drum.

It’s a clear summation of Nog’s problem, and also sounds spot on in so many ways. There are so many stories, real and fictional, of young soldiers who change or fall apart after confronting the realities of war. Plus, I think we’ve all had at least one moment when we realize we’re mortal, and it’s terrifying. And Vic’s statements, while cloaked in slang, are said in a way that we know what he means. It’s a beautifully written and acted scene, and there was no way I was going to pick anything else after I’d heard it. It’s more than earned the honor.

After the Fact Update: Odd as it is to believe after seeing this episode, the original plan for the story had been for it to be a comedy episode where three different storylines were taking place in Vic’s casino, with Vic getting involved with all of them. Nog’s plot was meant to be the slightly more serious plot, but as the script developed, Ira Steven Behr realized that this story was overshadowing everything else, and this was the central plot. It’s unheard of to have a TV episode that revolves entirely around guest stars, but they took the chance, and I’d say it paid off.

On a more amusing note, this entry in the DS9 Companion is the one to suggest that the writers were slipping in references to the Alamo in the hope that Behr, who loves that event, would give the script a pass for some of its other elements. Hey, if a tactic works, you might as well use it.